


seeing crimson

by scorpionGrass



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Bathtub Sex, Death and Dying, Enemies to Lovers, M/M, Post-Canon, Sex Jokes, Smoking, Soul Bond, tacky restaurants
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-11 10:00:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 14,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28349529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scorpionGrass/pseuds/scorpionGrass
Summary: At a bowling alley of all places is where Vector tries to make amends.
Relationships: Tenjou Kaito/Vector
Comments: 39
Kudos: 20





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> written during a writing jam, when everyone made it their mission to include Chick-Fil-A in their fic as a collective meme.

Kaito is only here because Akari requested him to fill in as chaperone. She’s at home, busy with work, sifting through research for an expose on Chick-Fil-A's anti-LGBTQ+ donations, and could not be here herself. He only agreed because honestly, bowling night with the entire Barian crew and the Numbers Club? Without a single adult?

Sounds like a recipe for disaster.

So he’s here, chaperoning a gigantic hangout that spans two bowling lanes in the basement of the Heartland City mall. Gilag found all of the bowling balls too light and requested the heaviest one they have behind the counter. Mizael complained to Durbe that they have to wear communal bowling shoes because they are absolutely worn-out and disgusting. Alit is a natural, with four strikes on the board.

Yuuma keeps insisting that he can make a shot that won’t go in the gutters, but fails every time. Meanwhile, the rest of the Numbers Club is about as average as a bunch of middle-schoolers can get even with the kid-sized balls, to the point where Kaito goes up to the counter and asks for the guard rails to go up on their lanes. Tetsuo can’t shoot straight to save his life, while Takashi keeps trying the granny method and that really doesn’t do anything to help his abysmal score. Haruto giggles at all of their attempts, but is just as bad himself.

Currently, Kaito sits on one of the plastic seats, legs crossed, arms folded, staring down the lanes and wondering why Akari just had to be busy exposing a fast food chain’s shitty company practices instead of here being the chaperone herself.

He could be at home, in his tiny apartment, hanging out with only Haruto instead of in charge of exactly fourteen teenagers.

Fourteen… teenagers…

He sighs.

“Hey, Kaito!”

He looks up toward Yuuma, who is waving at him with the hand that is thankfully not clenched into the holes of a bowling ball.

“Watch this!”

Kaito is much too tired to attempt to stop whatever crazy backflip nonsense he tries next and waves half-heartedly back. In his periphery, Ryoga also watches him, and Kotori looks highly distressed that he’s going to bonk himself on the head and give himself a concussion. Haruto is laughing.

Honestly, Kaito is less worried about Yuuma’s attempts at showboating and more concerned about Vector, who isn’t even playing. Instead, he catcalls Mizael to distract him (which is honestly sort of hilarious), flirts loudly at Alit (who flirts back shamelessly), and goes up to stand with Yuuma every time it’s his turn (which sets Kaito’s nerves on edge).

It’s only been a couple years since the Numeron Code reset everything. Everyone’s getting along just fine, though it’s fair that Akari still hardly trusts a group of aliens who tried to destroy them.

Kaito trusts exactly all of them to an extent. Except Vector.

Vector, who came to this group outing in sweats and his obnoxious leather jacket, the only dropout in a group of middle-schoolers still dressed in their uniforms.

“I’m fuckin’ starving, didn’t you say there’d be food,” Vector asks loudly, leaning against Yuuma when he’s done shooting his shot, somehow landing a spare in the process.

“Oh yeah. We should get some--”

“I’ll go,” Kaito says, getting up and dusting himself off. At the very least, he trusts Kotori to keep Haruto safe among the others.

Vector grins and skips over. “I’ll help!” he says, in a tone that sounds like the exact opposite will happen.

Kaito ignores him, and walks up the two steps toward the corner of the establishment, where there’s a place that sells nothing but pizza, hot dogs, and nachos. He’s not sure what anyone wants, but he’s absolutely certain he doesn’t want any of it.

Maybe a couple of pizzas. He glances back at Alit and Gilag. Maybe more than two pizzas.

Vector spins on one of the stools at the counter. “What’re you ordering?”

There’s only cheese and pepperoni. The pepperoni looks disgusting. Everything looks disgusting, but that’s because it’s from a bowling alley.

“Pizza,” Kaito says shortly, before ringing the bell on the counter twice. No one comes out to serve them.

Vector grins at him, leaning back onto the counter. “So… you brought Haruto.”

“I did.”

“Why would you ever do that?”

Kaito doesn’t know how to tell Vector that it’s because he hadn’t realized that when Yuuma told him “everybody,” it had meant Vector too. He never participated in anything unless he thought he could get something out of it, so Kaito just assumed he wouldn’t be coming. And by the time he’d realized, it had been too late. A severe oversight on his part.

“Why do you care?”

Vector shrugs. “Just interesting is all.”

Interesting is one way to describe it, he figures. “Stay away from Haruto and we’ll be fine.”

“What about you?”

Kaito rings the bell a third time, louder.

“Kaito?”

“What,” he grits out.

“What about you?”

Kaito could care less about himself. He’s already degrading, already far beyond what any doctor can fix. A shorter lifespan, an entire youth dedicated to fighting and patching himself back up and protecting the only person that made every moment he was alive worth it.

“You already fucked me up, so it doesn’t matter.”

He can’t believe they’re having this conversation in a fucking bowling alley. Kaito can barely believe they’re having it in the first place, after everything’s already been resolved, after the Numeron Code reset everything and gave all of the Barians a second lease on life like the past didn’t matter at all.

Like Vector hadn’t been the start and end of everything in Kaito’s life.

“Why not?” Vector prods, poking Kaito in the arm, in the exact spot the doctors keep shooting meds into him.

There’s no way to answer that question. Not without Kaito digging back into everything he’s buried. He turns to watch the others. Alit rolled another strike and is grinning so widely his face could crack. Kotori’s crouching next to Haruto, guiding him through as he attempts to roll the ball straight, but it still hits the guard rails.

Meanwhile, the restaurant seems to be closed despite every single tacky neon light blazing bright in the dark corner of the bowling alley.

“It doesn’t matter,” Kaito repeats, moving to walk away, back to everyone else.

“Hey--”

Kaito stops, clenching his fists. “The Numeron Code reset everything,” he says as calmly as he can, but an edge creeps in anyway. “But what did it reset? You’re the reason I’m like this, but you’re alive and I’m still dying. So it doesn’t matter what you do to me anymore, because the outcome will always be the same.”

Vector catches his wrist before he can move another inch. “What if I could fix it?”

“Fix it? How the hell would you--?”

But for once in his life, as long as Kaito’s known Vector in a physical form, he looks deadly serious. No doubt another trick, just like every other one.

Then Vector pushes up the sleeve of his leather jacket, where a glowing gem sits against the inside of his wrist, encased in a thick gold bangle. Red, like the ones on his Barian form that decorated his limbs and shone in his hair.

“I don’t know why I still have mine. No one else does. But they hold life force,” he explains. “We used them to field, like recharging each other’s batteries. Maybe it could help you.”

“Stop fucking with me--”

“I thought it didn’t matter what I did to you?”

“Go to hell.”

They’re at a standstill, and Kaito holds his violet gaze until he can’t. Because he’s too good an actor, because he can almost believe the lies he tells like Yuuma did before. It’s easy to want to believe when they’re exactly what he wants to hear from every doctor who hasn’t been able to help him.

“Whatever,” Vector finally says with a shrug. “Worth a try, if you ever decide you want to. Or you can continue dying and leave Haruto all alone with your fuck-up of a father.”

Kaito doesn’t respond, turning on his heel and heading back to the others.

He announces that the restaurant is closed so they’ll have to get dinner elsewhere, smiles as Haruto tells him about all the shots he’s taken and how he’s totally getting better at the game, and thanks Kotori for watching over him.

“He’s easy to take care of, unlike Yuuma,” she says with a giggle. “Haruto’s lucky to have a big brother like you.”

At that moment, Vector sits down in one of the plastic chairs, shooting Kaito an odd look that he studiously ignores.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he's trying.


	2. Chapter 2

Kaito doesn’t know why Yuuma wants to celebrate graduation from middle school at a Denny’s. Maybe it’s because it’s the only place any of them can trust Vector to behave at.

Whatever the reason, Kaito parks his car and gets out, surveying the whole establishment with the kind of distrust that only Vector can instill in him. The bright yellow and red sign glows in the night sky, and through the window he can see Yuuma and all his Numbers Club friends, along with Alit who is graduating with them, and all of the ex-Barians.

And then he notices Vector, who dropped out but apparently felt like coming anyway. He’s leaning against the brick wall outside with a cigarette between his lips.

This time, Kaito is glad he left Haruto at home.

“What are you doing here?”

He shrugs. “It’s a celebration. There’s food. And you.”

Kaito frowns. “Me?”

Vector holds up his arm. The red gem fastened to his wrist peeks out under his sleeve. “Thought about it?”

“No.”

In truth, it’s all Kaito’s been able to think about since that day at the bowling alley. The possibility of reversing everything, straight from the source of chaos himself. But it’s too good to be true, especially coming from Vector.

Vector scowls, smoke dispersing in the cool air. “Whatever. Sorry I offered,” he says, dropping his stub of a cigarette and stamping it out before leading the way inside.

Kaito sighs and follows.

Yet again, Akari is unable to chaperone. Yet again, he has been asked to fill in. It’s not so bad, except that he wishes he had a decent reason to decline. Celebrating a middle school graduation with mediocre pancakes for dinner is really not how he wanted to spend tonight.

Yuuma notices them first. He smiles brightly and waves them over to the table. “Kaito! You made it.”

“Of course I did, I’m your chaperone,” Kaito says. The only free seat left is right between Ryoga and Vector, and he takes it without ceremony. “Have you guys ordered yet?”

“Takashi’s being indecisive, so we’re waiting on him,” Kotori tells him, sitting right across from him. “And I guess you too, now.”

Kaito glances down the table, where Takashi is stressed over all the menu options and Cathy is petting his shoulder in a misguided attempt to calm him down. “Why don’t I pick for us?” he offers, taking pity on the kid. “What are the ones you’re stuck between?”

“Blueberry or cinnamon roll--”

“Why don’t I get one and you get the other? We can split.”

Takashi nods, head still buried in the menu. “That’s a good idea…”

“They’re my favourite,” Kaito assures him, despite only having been to Denny’s twice before and never trying either of them. It’s the only place that’s still open after midnight, but he’s normally not out this late. “So don’t worry.”

Takashi finally puts the menu down. “Okay. Thanks Kaito!”

After they call the waitress over and order, the table bursts back into energetic conversation about the ceremony at school, the teachers they’ll miss, and what high school might be like. Kaito can’t remember ever being so hopeful, thrown straight into training and genetic experimentation when he was their age, maybe younger, in the same tower everyone looked to as a symbol for utopia.

He always knew better.

The waitress comes back with their orders soon enough and everyone digs in. Kaito splits the pancakes he and Takashi ordered down the centre and gives him the better halves of both, since it’s his day to celebrate.

Vector watches him the whole time, chin in hand as he pokes idly at his plate.

Kaito ignores him, tuning into Yuuma’s grand re-telling of everything that happened today, with everyone else who graduated adding their own details until Kaito can’t follow the story anymore and just nods along. At least the other Barians know what’s going on, since they already graduated last year. Or the year before.

Graduating middle school, huh.

Then his phone buzzes. Kaito pushes his seat back. “I’ll be right back,” he says as a courtesy, before grabbing his bag and heading to the washroom.

The only things in his bag are his laptop, notebook, wallet, and medication. As the door shuts behind him, Kaito walks straight up to one of the sinks and sets it down, rummaging through for the box of patches he keeps zipped away inside. Then he takes off his jacket, peeling off the patch that’s already on his arm and tossing it.

Kaito’s about to set the new patch on his opposite arm when the door opens again.

“Damn, you need morphine?” Vector asks, letting out a low whistle at the sight of the box on the counter. “How bad does dying hurt?”

“Shut the hell up.”

Because of course he has to replace the patch on the night Yuuma and his friends graduate, and of course Vector has to witness it. Of course. Kaito keeps the patch pressed to his arm, counting down the seconds in his head.

“You know, you might not need any of that stuff if you’d just try it my way,” Vector says, wiggling his wrist at him. The crimson gemstone gleams in the fluorescent lights.

“Why would I ever try anything your way?”

He shrugs, sitting up beside the sink. “Because it’s an easy way out if it works, and a fun time if it doesn’t.”

“Fun time?”

“Fielding is fun, though I guess I wouldn’t know how it would work with a human.”

“How does it work with a Barian?” The question is out before Kaito can think better of it. He grits his teeth, letting go of the patch and checking the edges to make sure it’s stuck on properly.

Vector smirks. “Well,” he says, leaning forward and sliding his hand against Kaito’s neck, “it’s very… intimate.”

“How?” Because he’s already started, he might as well hear this process through.

Then the door opens again, another patron entering. Vector withdraws his hand and hops off the sink in one fluid motion. “Let’s talk later,” he says, smirking before heading back out.

Kaito huffs, throwing his jacket back on and grabbing his bag before following.

They rejoin the table like nothing happened, and no one says anything, too wrapped up in their own conversations. Vector finally does more than just pick at his plate and, to Kaito’s relief, stops watching him so intently.

“You alright?” Ryoga asks from beside him, when no one is paying them any attention. “I saw the reminder.”

“Yeah,” Kaito responds. “I’m fine.”

“But, those meds are for--”

“I know. I’m fine.”

Ryoga gives him an odd look, but drops it.

Kaito’s really not in the mood for his condition to become the focus of the night. He glances at Yuuma, who’s talking animatedly with Kotori and Tetsuo, and can’t help but wonder what it would’ve been like to graduate middle school. To actually go to a formal high school. To wear a uniform and do homework every night instead of stitch himself back together and count his bruises.

It might be too late for him, but at least Haruto will get those experiences, now that everything’s been reset.

(Sometimes Kaito wonders if he’s the only person who didn’t benefit from the Numeron Code.)

He glances at Vector beside him, who looks bored as hell , and tries to reconcile him with the demon who’d sent his life on a downward spiral, who’d started the chain of events leading him to this very moment eating pancakes at Denny’s with a decision to make: to trust him, or not.

When the meal is over and everyone’s paid up, Kaito goes around to make sure everyone has a way home just in case anyone needs a ride, before finally leaving himself. Only to come face to face with Vector.

“Hey,” he says, another cigarette between his fingers. “Now a good time?”

Ryoga gives him another odd look as he makes his way to his motorcycle with Rio, but Kaito doesn’t really care what he thinks. It isn’t his life that’s going to end. He isn’t the one who’s so desperate for a solution that he’d talk to Vector on the off chance things could work.

“Why not,” Kaito says. “What’s your address? I’ll drive--”

“No. We can do this here.”

“Do what?”

Vector takes a drag off his cigarette, smile sharp as his eyes slide over to Kaito. “Field, what else? Let’s see if it works first,” he says. “But it’s best when you’re relaxed. You’re so tense.”

“You still haven’t told me how it even works.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says flippantly, setting a hand on Kaito’s shoulder. “We’ll get there. First you need to relax. Are you gonna follow my instructions or what?”

Kaito stares at him, unimpressed. “You really think I can be relaxed in a Denny’s parking lot?”

Vector rolls his eyes. “Fine, we can do it in your car.”

“We’d still be in a--”

“Wow, okay, you’re high maintenance, I get it,” Vector says, tapping ash off his cigarette. “You know what, maybe I should just take you out to dinner too while we’re at it.”

There is only so much Kaito’s willing to do, and he thinks this over again, like he has every day for how many weeks since the bowling alley. Since Vector offered him something no doctor in Heartland could give him. A way out. Despite every red flag, as they stand by the brick walls of Denny’s under the yellow glow of the logo, he concedes.

“Fine, my car,” Kaito says, because it’s better than inviting Vector back to his apartment.

Vector stamps out his cigarette and follows him over to his sedan, his one mode of transportation that isn’t Orbital 7. Kaito unlocks the doors and slides into the backseat after Vector.

“So, now what?” he asks. He can’t help but be wary. This is Vector he’s trusting, even just for a few seconds, and apparently this is new territory for him too. “You said it was intimate, so what does that mean?”

In the dark, Vector pushes up his sleeve and runs the flat of the gemstone over his fingers. It must activate, because it starts glowing, lighting up the planes of his face in a crimson glow. Kaito watches a crease form between his brows.

“It works best on skin contact,” Vector says finally, a smirk crossing his lips that looks less confident and more unsure. “You don’t have to be naked, but it helps. And you have to relax.”

“Okay.” Kaito sheds his jacket and shirt, tossing them to the passenger seat. “Does this work?”

“Yeah, perfect.” He shuffles closer, enough to lay his whole forearm against Kaito’s chest, with the gem placed against his beating heart. “It might burn.”

Vector takes a deep breath. When he exhales, the world crashes into nothing but white-hot energy that curls around them, distorting reality. Kaito watches as Vector winces, the surface of his skin blurring from his human form to glittering crimson particles, shifting in waves.

It lasts less than ten seconds before the world slams back into place.

Vector falls against him, panting. “Fuck, I forgot you don’t have anything to give back.”

“What?” Kaito asks, dazed and breathless. He burns from the inside out, as if the sun itself sits beneath his skin, but Vector feels cool and soothing. “What do you mean?”

“Barians share energy, it’s an exchange. And you have none of it.”

Kaito wraps his arms around Vector, pulling him close to try and cool himself down more. “What happens when I can’t give anything back?”

“Goddamn,” Vector hisses. “I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”

Their eyes flutter shut as they breathe against each other. “How will I know if it worked?”

“You’ll feel less like you’re dying?”

“Makes sense.”

“Will you let go of me?”

“No.” Kaito tilts his head back against the tinted window, eyes drawing up toward the sunroof. “I can’t drive home like this. I’m too out of it.”

Vector grins against his shoulder. “Then I guess we’re stuck here. A minor oversight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who said denny's can't be romantic?


	3. Chapter 3

Somehow, tangled up with Vector in the backseat of his car, parked at a Denny’s, Kaito sleeps better than he has since the Numeron Code reset the world.

Until his phone rings.

His eyes crack open to see sunlight pouring in through the windows. Vector’s still on top of him, head on his chest, arms wrapped loosely around his waist. Vector sleeps like the dead, unbothered by the ringtone, and Kaito doesn’t need to move much to grab his phone.

“Hello?”

“Kaito.”

“Ryoga,” Kaito says, absently running his hand through Vector’s hair. “What do you want this early?”

“... It’s like noon.”

Kaito squints. “Noon can be early.”

“Whatever, I just thought I’d ask. Vector never came home last night. Have you seen him?”

“What, like he’s never been gone before?” Kaito rubs at his eyes. “Didn’t he disappear for a week once?”

“Yeah, but--”

“He’s with me,” Kaito says. “That’s what you wanted to know, right?”

There’s silence over the line. Vector shifts in his sleep, fingers ghosting over Kaito’s collarbone. Then the line goes dead. It’s the only thing Kaito’s ever appreciated about Ryoga; he never asks for explanations. Maybe because he still hasn’t been able to give one himself that doesn’t amount to “duty” or “factions.”

For crossing all of them.

At least he’d known what to expect from Vector from the start.

“Who was that?” Vector asks, voice gravelly. His eyes are still shut, his voice hoarse.

“It was Ryoga. He was looking for you.”

“Oh,” Vector mumbles, more to himself than anything else. “Dumb fucker, why does he care?”

It takes forever for Vector to sit up. When they’re both finally upright, Vector practically sways. Maybe Kaito just hadn’t been paying attention before, but the bags under his eyes are so dark, and his skin is paler, almost sallow.

“Are you okay?” Kaito asks, more out of obligation than anything else as he steadies him in his arms.

“I’m good,” Vector says, shooting him a smirk. “Still exhausted. Maybe I’m just hungry.”

“Maybe?”

“I’m always hungry.”

Kaito frowns. “You don’t look okay.”

“You do, though. Wasn’t that the point?”

It shouldn’t matter, not even slightly, but Kaito presses the back of his hand to Vector’s forehead before realizing he’s still the worst example of a normal temperature.

“You’re still cold,” he says anyway.

“Yeah, and you’re still burning, what about it?”

“I don’t know. I thought you would.”

Vector throws his arms over Kaito’s shoulders and leans in till their foreheads touch. “Yeah, I don’t know why I thought you were the smart one. But you’re practically glowing, so that’s a positive.”

“Want me to get you breakfast?”

He smiles mockingly. “You’d get your one-night-stand breakfast?” Vector asks, twirling Kaito’s hair between his fingers. “How sweet.”

“We didn’t have sex.”

“Not human sex.”

“It lasted ten seconds.”

“Yeah, because you’re human. I could go for hours with Alit.”

Kaito sighs, already tired of Vector’s pointless flexing. “I’m taking you home.”

He grabs his clothes from the passenger seat, throwing them on before opening the door and getting out. The temperature’s hot, but there’s a cool breeze. It’s the kind of weather that by all means should have set the inside of his car on fire with the sun alone, but didn’t. Maybe because he still hasn’t cooled down, that burning feeling still just under his skin.

Vector exits shortly after him, sliding down against the door until he’s crouching against the tire, a cigarette clutched in his hand. “I need one,” he says when Kaito gives him a look.

“Fine.”

Something feels different today, like the world is brighter, or maybe Kaito’s just imagining it. The aches from his condition are duller than they were last night, or even last week, but he can’t tell if it’s the new meds or not. If whatever Vector did actually worked or not. But another look at him and Kaito tries to remember what Vector looked like the night before. Had he looked so sickly? Unable to stay upright?

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kaito asks, when Vector’s cigarette has burned down to the tips of his fingers.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

His words from last night are stuck in Kaito’s head. As much as he tries to let it go, he can’t. Because Vector shouldn’t be his priority. Because why would he ever give anything back to him?

“Then stand up,” Kaito says.

It takes more than a moment for Vector to find the leverage, but when he’s finally on his feet, he nearly falls over.

“Fuck,” he hisses, catching himself. He chucks the stub of his cigarette down and scowls, pushing himself up again. “I’m fine, I’m just dizzy or something--”

Kaito grabs him by the shoulders and shoves him up against his car. Vector grunts, wincing at the impact. “You’re really great at half-truths, but I’m not that stupid,” he says. “I did this, right?”

“But you’re better now,” Vector says with a pained grin, “so it doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter, I can’t bring you home like this.”

“Why not? No one cares.”

“Yuuma does.”

Vector rolls his eyes. “Is there anyone that dumbass doesn’t care about?”

“Ryoga literally just called to check up on you.”

“He’s worried about you, not me--”

“Then I’m worried,” Kaito insists, “and I’m right in front of you. I’m not letting you ruin your life for me.”

Vector glares at him. “I ruined your whole goddamn life,” he bites. “Why wouldn’t you take the chance to ruin mine?”

The logic’s there until it’s not as they stare at each other in a deadlock. It’s not that he doesn’t want to, but none of this feels right. Kaito lets go of him, scoffing.

“Just get in the car.”

He climbs into the driver’s seat, slams the door, and starts the car. It doesn’t take long for Vector to get into the passenger side, crashing down in the seat. He’s still glaring, pissed off at nothing and everything.

“You never gave me a choice,” Kaito says quietly as he reverses out of the parking spot. “Not when this started, and not now.”

“You chose this time.”

“Without knowing all the consequences,” Kaito says. “You’re the one who wants to die, and as much as I don’t care what happens to you, I don’t want to be your stepping stone anymore.”

“Whatever.”

Kaito hates that he doesn’t know what’s going on in Vector’s head. That he can’t just unpack everything into neat little boxes so he can figure out why he wants this so much. As Kaito drives, turning through the streets toward the nearest highway ramp, he wonders what else there is underneath all of Vector’s flirting and fronting.

Minutes pass in silence, and neither of them make the move to turn on the radio. Kaito’s palms sweat with the heat still burning inside him and he wipes them on his thighs. Vector stares out the window, a sour look on his face as the city passes them by.

“This isn’t the way back to the mansion,” he finally says.

“It’s not,” Kaito says calmly.

“Where the fuck are we going?”

“Nowhere.”

Vector narrows his eyes at him. “Why?”

“I need some time.”

“For what?”

“To figure this out, because you won’t.”

Vector pulls his feet up onto the seat, crossing his legs and twisting his fingers together. “I don’t want to figure anything out,” he says bitterly. “I already did. This was the solution, so we can both get what we want. Mutually beneficial garbage.”

Kaito watches him from his periphery, at the way he grumbles and pulls at his fingers till the blood flow stops at the tips and his knuckles crack. Then, at the way he shivers. “So I get no say in how things turn out for you?”

“I thought you’d like it this way.”

“You thought wrong.”

Vector laughs, harsh and grating. “God, humans are all so fucking soft,” he says. “What happened to being selfish or petty or vengeful? Did that die along with chivalry?”

Kaito ignores him, pulling over to the exit, where there’s nothing but rural country roads on the outskirts of Heartland proper. Once they’ve parked on the shoulder, he rolls down the windows and unbuckles his seatbelt, throwing Vector his jacket.

“It’s too hot,” he says, when Vector shoots him a look.

“I’m not wearing this.”

Instead of responding, Kaito uses the car’s system to dial Ryoga. The breeze sets his skin on ice as the phone rings, but it feels better than burning. A moment later, Ryoga’s voice comes crackling through the speakers.

“Kaito?”

“Hey, is Alit with you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Pass him the phone.”

“Uh, sure.”

There’s movement on the line, Ryoga’s D-Gazer clattering into Alit’s hand and the static sound of it hooking over his ear. “Hey,” Alit’s voice comes in, loud and clear. “What’s up Kaito?”

“Are you alone?”

“... No?”

“Then go somewhere where you will be.”

“Is this a sex thing?” Alit asks. Vector snorts. Kaito can hear laughter over the feed.

“Depends on your definition,” Kaito says wryly, glancing at Vector again. He’s switched from cracking his knuckles to fiddling with the loose threads on his t-shirt, wrapping them around the pad of his thumb. “Just tell me when you’re by yourself.”

“Okay. So, uh. How are you?”

“Better and worse. What about you?”

“Gilag made taiyaki and it was delicious! You should take some home for Haruto when you drop Vec off, if there’s any left when you get here.”

“Might just do that.”

“Cool. Um, I’m alone now! What did you want to talk about?”

Kaito doesn’t waste time getting to the point: “Vector says you guys used to field together.”

“Wh-what? He told you about that? That’s so embarrassing,” Alit whines. “No, we’re totally not talking about that, it’s so… like, it’s really personal!”

“He didn’t tell me anything specific, he just said you guys used to do it as Barians,” Kaito assures him. “I just need to know how it works because he refuses to tell me.”

“Huh? Why do you need to know?”

“Because we fielded and now he’s sick and I’m burning.”

“What? No way dude, we can’t do that anymore,” Alit says, confused. “We don’t have our gems, and it only works between Barians.”

“Well we did. Vector still has his gem.”

“Whoa, really?”

“Yes, Alit, I still have my fucking gem,” Vector speaks up. “And now Kaito wants to heal me or whatever, but he fucking can’t because humans don’t have a gem to give anything back with.”

“So you just drained yourself on purpose?” Alit asks. “Why the hell would you do that?”

Both Kaito and Vector go silent.

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Vector says, gritting his teeth.

“That’s not good,” Alit says after a moment. Then something else must click in his head, because the next thing he says is, “Wait, wait. Back up a sec. Why would Kaito even field with you?”

Kaito sighs. “He said he could fix me.”

“Damn… does this have to do with all those doctor’s appointments Nasch is always picking you up from?”

“Yeah.”

“Did it at least work?”

“It did.”

Alit audibly sighs. “I mean, that’s great and all, but there’s no way to do an energy exchange without a gem. Whatever Vector gave you from his life force is yours now. How long did he go for?”

“Ten seconds.”

“Ten?” Alit asks in total disbelief. “And he’s sick?”

“Yeah, ten.”

“Wow, you must’ve been running really dry, Kaito. Like, deathbed dry,” Alit says emphatically. “Either that or Vector didn’t have much left to begin with. I wouldn’t know, I haven’t seen his gem.”

“If you see it, do you think it would help?”

“Not really? I mean, he’d still be drained.”

“What would help him right now?”

“I… I don’t know.” Alit sighs again. “I have no idea. Maybe Nasch could--”

“No,” Kaito and Vector say, almost simultaneously. They exchange an irritated glance.

“Oh. Uh, cool, something you agree on,” Alit says with a nervous laugh. “I’m sorry, Kaito. I know you’re trusting me with this, but I don’t know what to do.”

“It’s fine,” Kaito says. “We’ll be on our way back soon.”

“We will?”

“What, you thought I could figure this out in a single long unromantic drive?” Kaito deadpans. “Alit, I’ll need your help when we get there. See you soon.”

He hangs up before Alit can answer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no tacky places with neon lights or sleazy reputations this time. unfortunate.


	4. Chapter 4

On the way back, Kaito’s too hot to close the windows and Vector’s too cold to put on the AC, so he compromises by driving along the service roads that border the highway and leaving the windows down and turning Vector's seat-warmer on. It’s slow, it’s scenic, and the sound of the wind is enough to take Kaito’s mind off the angry redhead beside him, if only for a moment.

Vector stomach growls audibly, and Kaito slides his eyes over to him. “Are you actually hungry?”

“I’m always hungry,” he deflects.

He knows there’s a pit stop somewhere just before they hit the Heartland City sign, a bright pink abomination that sits on a hillside and announces their arrival like a neon Vegas sign. It’s not long before Kaito finds it, and he swerves into the parking lot and angles into the drive-thru of the McDonalds. Vector scowls.

“If we’re here because you feel sorry for me--”

“We’re here because I want coffee,” Kaito interrupts. “Did you want anything?”

Vector watches him, eyes narrowed, before breaking out into a lethal smile. “If you get me something, I’ll have to pay you back.”

Kaito inches the car forward as the car in front of them moves up. “You gave me your life, I doubt you have much left to give.”

The speaker crackles, an employee speaking to them, but they both ignore it.

“You haven’t taken everything yet,” Vector says. “I’m still a virgin, you know.”

“I fucking doubt that.”

“Why do you--?”

The speaker crackles again, asking what they’d like to order. Kaito raises a brow at Vector. “Do you want anything or not, virgin?”

“Yeah, your dick in my mouth.”

Kaito sighs, turning out the window. “I’d like a medium coffee and a Happy Meal. I don’t care what it is, just pick one.”

They don’t listen to the employee sounding confused or telling them their total, driving up to the pick-up instead. Vector’s back to staring out the window, smirking like he’s won something, though Kaito has no idea what.

“You told me not even an hour ago that you’ve had sex with Alit,” he says, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel.

“Yeah, Barian sex. Not human sex. So this body is a virgin.”

Kaito rolls his eyes. “You had Barian sex with me in your human body.”

“Semantics,” Vector says with a shrug. “And anyway, you couldn’t keep your hands off me last night. I know you want more.”

It’s like he’s trying to take back control, Kaito thinks. As if he can make everything disappear with some sly banter, or catch Kaito off-guard with his crassness. He smirks, chin propped against his fist as he leers across the car. But he can’t make this disappear, like it never happened. Like death isn’t around the corner.

“I was hot,” Kaito says, because he gets it. He gets wanting to talk about anything else.

“Yeah, you are.”

“Are you still cold?” he asks, because Vector has finally put on the jacket and isn’t shivering nearly as badly as before.

“I’m fine, what do I keep telling you--”

“Maybe you’re the one who can’t keep their hands off me.”

“Just admit you want me,” Vector says with a grin. “After all, you’re going through all this trouble of saving me. Why else would you bother? You don’t want to lose all of this.”

“A virgin who probably isn’t good in bed? No thanks.”

“I made you feel good last night--”

“Weren’t you the one saying Barian sex was different?” Kaito asks, shooting him a look.

Then Vector snorts, gesturing, and Kaito turns to see a McDonald's employee, red-faced and holding out a takeout bag and a coffee. Kaito immediately pastes on a smile and thanks them graciously, before turning back to Vector.

“Are you gonna say thank you?”

“Fuck you.”

“Okay.” Kaito deposits the takeout bag in Vector’s lap and sips his coffee. “Maybe I will.”

~

The mansion is on the outskirts of Heartland, where the skyscrapers of the downtown core fade out into wider streets with suburb housing and large stretches of fields and parks, on the opposite end of the city. Kaito drives on autopilot, having made the trip to the Kamishiro Mansion so many times that the route is second nature.

Vector has started twisting a hairband he found in the cupholders between his fingers, stretching it out and letting it snap against his skin till his wrists turn red.

“Why do you have this anyway?” Vector asks, sliding his fingers into it like a cat’s cradle.

Kaito can’t remember who left it. He’s the only one with a car, the only one who can legally drive (because Shark is an anomaly with his ridiculous motorcycle), so he’s given almost everyone a ride at one point or another. He glances at the band, plain black.

“Someone must have forgotten it.”

“Someone…?”

“Chris. Or Mizael, I guess.”

The two he sees the most, even if they’re both gigantic pains to be around. Chris won’t stop fussing over him and his health, as if he needs another disappointing parental figure. Mizael’s slightly more bearable, but only because he’s not giving him advice he doesn’t want and only ever complains about how inconvenient it is to be human.

“Chris… the tall fucker?”

“Yeah.”

Vector licks his lips, snapping the band back against his knuckles. “Pretty sure he’s hot for you.”

“Fuck no,” Kaito mutters.

He snickers. “Why not?”

“I don’t have daddy issues, that’s why.”

Vector cackles, practically doubling over. “I guess that’s my fault too, huh?” he asks, grinning.

Kaito shrugs. “I stopped keeping track.”

This is the longest he’s spent time alone with Vector, and Kaito doesn’t completely hate it. It’s easy to be blunt, even easier to be honest, when Vector’s the only person who doesn’t act like he’s made of glass.

Vector’s snickers fade out, and he snaps the band again. “God, you know what’s the worst? That he’s hot.”

“Who?”

“Chris. He’s hot as fuck.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“Maybe,” Vector murmurs, suddenly quiet, “if I hadn’t royally fucked things up for you, that would’ve worked out.”

Kaito grimaces. “If you’re trying to apologize, I don’t need one.”

He’s quiet for a moment, lips turned down as he debates his words. “What did you mean by stepping stone?”

The question comes out of nowhere, but Kaito knows why he’s asking. “I’m your way to getting what you want,” he answers.

Vector adjusts himself in the seat, bringing his knees to his chest and resting his chin atop them. The black hairband is stark against his wrist as he fiddles with it, waiting for Kaito to elaborate.

“You don’t actually care about what happens to me,” he continues. “You care about what you’ll get out of it. So I might not be dying anymore, but that’s just a side-effect of you dying instead. Just like how Haruto got screwed up so you could get Numbers. It doesn’t matter what happens to me, good or bad, so long as it benefits you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“I really thought you’d…” Vector trails off, biting his lip. “I’m so--”

“I don’t need an apology,” Kaito says again. “It’s fine. We’ll figure this out.”

They’re off the highway now, driving through the rich part of the suburbs, down through to the abandoned part that rotted away from the city. To the mansion, that’s somehow still standing.

“I hate this place,” Vector mumbles as they turn into the driveway.

Somehow, Kaito gets that too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mcdonald's drive-thru, nominated best place to flirt 2021


	5. Chapter 5

Vector forgot his key, so Kaito has to ring the doorbell. Because luck isn’t on their side, Ryoga’s the one who answers, swinging the door open. He stares at them, confused.

“Hey,” Kaito says, because the silence has stretched on long enough. Vector clings to him to stay standing, his arms around his waist and pressing up against his side for warmth because the weather’s only gotten colder since they woke up and Kaito’s still burning. “Can we come in, or are we going to stand here all day?”

“Yeah,” Ryoga says. “But first.”

He steps out onto the porch, closing the door behind him. Kaito exhales, already exhausted by the prospect of having any kind of conversation.

“Sorry I hung up earlier.”

“It’s fine.’

Ryoga’s gaze flickers to Vector, then back as he gestures between them. “So, why are you--”

“I don’t see why it matters.”

Vector shudders against him as the wind picks up, whimpering as he buries his face into Kaito’s shoulder.

They’d both wordlessly agreed not to tell Ryoga anything, but he’s degrading fast and it’s not exactly easy to hide. Even just getting out of the car was a whole issue, with Vector practically face-planting into the concrete, so lightheaded that he just dropped. His temperature might have gotten worse too, with his skin cold and clammy, shirt damp with sweat. And eating didn’t help make him feel better at all.

“You’re the one who wanted to know how much dying hurts,” Kaito had told him, dragging him to his feet and up the stairs. Vector glared at him, stubbornly clinging to the word “fine” as if he could make it come true if he just kept saying it.

He wonders if Vector regrets his own desire to die, for making him so weak he can’t even summon the energy to pretend he’s okay in front of the person he hates most.

Ryoga glances between them again with a frown, like he wants to push harder but doesn’t know how.

“What’s with Vector?” he decides on.

Kaito angles his face toward Vector, who’s even paler than he was before he ate. His eyes are dazed, like he’s only half lucid with the pain. “I don’t know,” he says when it’s clear Vector isn’t in a position to answer for himself.

"You're the only person he's been with since last night, how do you not--?"

Vector lets out a soft keening sound, just loud enough that Ryoga stares at him, clearly judging them. Kaito slides his arm across Vector’s shoulders and shrugs.

“He can’t seem to keep his hands off me,” he deadpans.

“Is this like, a sex thing?”

Kaito snorts.

Ryoga scrunches his nose, but otherwise takes that in stride, because he continues with his questions. Because of course he can’t stay reluctant like Kaito wants him to be. Like he’s always been.

“Are you okay?” he asks, eyeing Kaito like he’s about to fall apart just because he happened to see a reminder to replace his morphine patch.

All of this feels so unnecessary when he’s healed now, cured of whatever the doctors couldn’t name, but Kaito can’t say that. Not to Ryoga. “I’m good,” he says instead, failing to hide his growing irritation.

“Where were you two?”

“Nowhere interesting.”

“Kaito--”

“You’re not my fucking babysitter,” he snaps. “If you have something you want to say, just say it.”

Ryoga shifts his weight, scowling. “I just want to…”

“What, help? That’s a good joke.”

“Alright, fine,” Ryoga concedes, but it’s clear he’s not happy about it. “But, we need to talk at some point.”

Kaito scoffs. “We really don’t.”

It’s not that he has a problem with Ryoga, but Kaito can’t deal with another one. Another Chris, who won’t stop pestering him about appointments and offering to go with him and asking twenty questions every time he’s prescribed something new because “are you okay?” is just another way of saying “I know you’re not okay” with the expectation that they deserve to know every detail about what’s going on.

Like they can help, but they never can.

He wishes they were all oblivious like Yuuma, who does nothing but smile at him while regaling him with the most inane stories from school. Because Akari actually knows how to keep her mouth shut even though she apologizes profusely whenever she’s swamped with work and has to ask him for a favour.

Vector stumbles alongside Kaito into the mansion, and Ryoga doesn’t ask, just leaves them in the foyer alone. Kaito sets Vector down on the bench next to the closet, keeping one hand on his shoulder to steady him.

“Is it at least warmer in here?” he asks.

Vector shakes his head, leaning back against the wall, and Kaito notices strands of his hair sticking to his forehead. “I told you,” he says.

“What?”

“That he called to check on you, not me.”

Kaito brushes Vector’s bangs out of his eyes with gentle fingers. “There’s always Yuuma.”

“Yuuma doesn’t count,” Vector rasps, then clears his throat. “I thought this would go quicker.”

“I’m not letting you die, asshole.” Kaito turns, glancing past the foyer and into the mansion. “Where would Alit be?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Lie down. I’ll go find him.”

Kaito doesn’t know where to look, but he passes the kitchen and finds Alit almost immediately, sitting on the counter, swinging his legs back and forth as he talks to Gilag, who’s chopping onions and crying. He hadn’t expected his search to end so quickly, ready to tear through the entire house, but he supposes this makes up for their terrible luck at the door.

“Alit,” he calls out as soon as he sees him. “I need you.”

Alit looks up, recognition hitting almost instantaneously. “Oh, hey Kaito. Yeah, yeah,” he says with a smile before turning to his friend. “Gotta go, Gilag.”

Gilag sobs in response.

He slides off the counter and follows Kaito back. His smile drops when they’re out of sight, brow furrowing as he chews on his lip.

“How bad is he?” Alit asks. “Like, where’s he at?”

“He’s not good. He can’t even stand.”

“I didn’t tell anyone, but…” Alit hesitates. “I tried to figure out if there was something we could do, but I can’t. There’s nothing. You need a gem, that’s really the only way that makes sense--”

Alit cuts himself off as Vector comes into view.

“Oh, fuck.”

Kaito agrees.

Alit rushes to Vector’s side, kneeling down. Vector’s eyes are clearer now, which Kaito can only take as a good sign. Alit presses his hands to Vector’s cheeks, then to his forehead.

“Hey Alit,” Vector grins, hand reaching out to tuck Alit’s hair behind his ear. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“You goddamn idiot,” Alit says, grabbing his wrist and pushing up Vector’s sleeve to check his pulse before finally examining his Barian gem. “Why the hell would you do this to yourself.”

“Because,” Vector mumbles. “No one gives a shit about me.”

Kaito isn’t in the mood to rehash this a third time. “He’s freezing, we should run him a bath,” he suggests, pulling what he remembers from helping raise Haruto, what Droite did whenever he was sick. “Maybe painkillers. The strongest you have.”

Alit nods, standing up and sliding his arms underneath Vector to lift him up. “Got it. I’ll take you up.”

A flight of stairs and five turns down winding corridors later, they’re in a bathroom. It’s large, like every other room in the mansion, and there’s a large bathtub, right underneath a glittering chandelier. Ridiculously fancy, just like the rest of this cursed place.

“No one ever uses this one, so it’s free to take up for as long as you need,” Alit says, laying Vector down gently against the cabinets. “I’ll get you the painkillers. And some bath stuff. Rio’s got loads, she won’t miss any.”

“Thanks,” Kaito says, turning the knobs on the bathtub to get the water running, filling the entire room with the white noise of the spray.

He glances back at Vector, who rolls his head back against the cabinet with a groan. “You’re really trying to save me, huh,” he says, a pained smirk on his face.

Kaito sits beside him, letting Vector lean into him like he did before, head resting against his shoulder. “I am.”

Vector laughs, soft and low. “You’re really not smart. I can’t believe I thought you were smart.”

“So you’ve told me.”

“You know,” he starts slowly, “if I didn’t feel so lightheaded, maybe I really would let you fuck me.”

“Why?” Kaito asks, because he’s still playing along with every topic Vector decides to bring up, because he doesn’t want to think about death either.

“Because,” he grins, “then at least, I wouldn’t die a virgin.”

Kaito rolls his eyes, his lips twitching up despite everything. “As if that’s the worst thing to be. Are you sure you’d pick me?”

“Are you trying to tell me you’re one too?”

“Maybe, yeah.”

Kaito can feel Vector’s shoulders shake as he laughs again. “Damn, it’d probably suck.”

“I dunno about that,” Kaito says, straight-faced. “I didn’t even have to do anything for you to make those sounds in front of Ryoga.”

Vector just laughs harder.

“I know you did that on purpose,” Kaito adds. “Too bad it didn’t stop him from asking shit.”

For a single moment, there’s nothing but the sound of the water. It’s so hot that Kaito can see the steam rise off it, fogging up the glass chandelier above it and making everything hazy. With the door closed, he can feel the temperature come close to how he feels internally, and Vector has stopped shivering so much.

“You know,” Vector starts, peering up at him through his lashes, lips stretching across his face. “Hearing you snap at him was hot. No one else does, except maybe Merag.”

Even though he’s definitely seen better days, with sweat matting his hair down and dripping down his neck and skin so pale it may as well be translucent, Kaito thinks the way Vector smiles with nothing left to lose is kind of beautiful.


	6. Chapter 6

It doesn’t take long for Alit to come back, and when he does, it’s with an entire basket of stuff. Towels, water bottles, Rio’s bath stuff, a bottle of painkillers, and a plate of leftover taiyaki. He sets it down next to the tub with a thud and straightens up.

“I heard you can dehydrate pretty quick, so I got you lots of water,” he says.

“Good call,” Kaito says. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Alit says, grimacing as he watches Vector. “Sorry I can’t do more.”

“It’s alright. No one could do much for me either, so don’t blame yourself,” Kaito says. “It is what it is.”

Alit settles down on the floor across from them, crossing his legs and resting his elbows on his knees. His hands clasp together and he taps the heels of his palms nervously. “So, Vector’s gem is near empty.”

Vector rolls his eyes. “I could have told you that much.”

“But you didn’t,” Kaito says pointedly. He sighs, moving on. “What did Vector mean when he said I can’t give anything back? Like, if I had a gem, what would I give back?”

“Memories,” Alit says simply. “Experiences you’ve had and the emotions associated with them, or something they wouldn’t have without you. But that’s why it’s so intimate. Because it’s not, like, physical? So much as it’s emotional? But the gems we had converted them for us into actual energy and stored it.”

“Then, how am I storing his energy?” Kaito asks, brow furrowing. “He gave it to me, so where would it be?”

Alit ponders this for a moment. “You said that he’s sick and you’re burning, right?”

“Yeah.”

He holds his hand out. “Let me see.”

Kaito reaches over to rest his palm over Alit’s, only for him to hiss on contact.

“Fuck, dude!” Alit waves his hand frantically in the air like he just put it directly into a fire. “I didn’t think you actually meant burning.”

“What?” Kaito squints, utterly confused. “But, then why isn’t Vector--?”

He tries to piece in this new information with everything else he knows. He hasn’t seen or touched anyone else since they woke up together hours ago. He didn’t even brush hands with the McDonald’s employee, who’d handed everything to him on a plastic tray.

Kaito turns to Vector. “What do I feel like to you?”

“I don’t know. Warm?”

“Unusually warm?” Kaito prompts.

“No, like--” Vector hesitates, frustratedly torn. “You… you feel like…”

Kaito watches him mentally flail right before he exhales, scowling as if he’s pissed he has to actually answer. “Like what?”

“Like home.”

Silence falls over them, thick and uncomfortable as they stare at each other, wide-eyed. Alit ignores them, too preoccupied with blowing cool air onto his hand in an attempt to soothe it. A violent blush heats up Vector’s face, and he curls up, burying his face into his knees.

And then Kaito comes to a realization.

“You’re the only one who can touch me.”

~

It doesn’t actually mean anything. That’s what Kaito tells himself after Alit leaves, probably to shove his hand in a bowl of ice water. Home is home, and it’s Vector’s energy that’s burning under his skin. Of course it feels like home, and of course that would connect them, so of course it would lash out against anyone else who touched him.

Kaito sighs as turns the tap off on the bathtub and starts sorting through the basket of stuff, pulling out all of the bath products one by one trying to find something normal just to give himself something to focus on. There is a bowl full of bath bombs, all glittery and colourful, that he passes right over. He puts aside the bubbles too, scented like peaches.

All he wants is something simple. Epsom salts. Bath oils. Literally anything that isn’t from Lush.

“I’m sorry,” Vector says into the silence.

“I told you, I don’t need an apology,” Kaito says, finally finding a box of salts. It’s small and decorative, definitely not the kind they sell at the pharmacy in a giant carton, but it’ll work. He pries it open and dumps the entire thing into the tub, swirling it in with his hand.

“I don’t care, I want to apologize,” Vector insists, uncharacteristically quiet. He’s still curled up, but he’s stopped hiding his face. The tips of his ears are bright red, the only sign he’d ever been so mortified.

“Okay,” Kaito says, resigned to the fact that this is really happening. “What are you sorry for?”

“That I didn’t fucking think this through. That I thought this would work exactly how I thought it would, but it didn’t,” Vector lists off. “I don’t know. That I keep using you, and now you can’t even be around other people without being a fire hazard, and it’s all my fault because I can't do anything right--"

“It’s not,” Kaito says, cracking one of the water bottles open and taking a sip. “You didn’t know. That’s all it really is. The only thing that’s intentionally your fault, if anything, is that you’re dying.”

He holds out the bottle for Vector to take, but he just stares at it.

“What’s wrong?”

Vector grimaces. “Why are you making excuses for me?”

“I’m not,” Kaito says, and really he isn't. “That’s just how life works. You do things, and they have unexpected chain reactions. You can’t possibly predict how every single thing you do is going to affect someone else. And for once, you weren’t trying to harm anyone but yourself.”

“I still hurt you.”

“I don’t care.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t change what happened, I can only decide how to move forward.”

Vector snatches the bottle out of his hand and gulps down half of it before setting it on the floor. “Why can’t you just hate me like everyone else?” he mutters, wiping his lips with the back of his hand.

“I can’t do that.”

“Why?”

“When you’re dying, you don’t really have a whole lot of energy to be angry about shit no one can fix,” Kaito says. “You can spend it angry and bitter, or you can make the best of it.”

“So what’s the best of this?” Vector asks, finally meeting his eyes again.

There’s anger in the tears that threaten to fall, but Kaito knows that look, how it’s only there to veil how terrified he is. He kneels down next to him, gently brushing through his bangs and watching him flinch at the contact.

“You get to have a hot bath,” Kaito says softly, “and eat the taiyaki Gilag made for everyone.”

"That's it?"

"Yeah."

It's mundane and simple, but sometimes that's all there is. Because their lives aren't like before, the adventures and drama replaced by everyday normalcy that Kaito much prefers.

“And after that?” Vector asks.

“I don’t know. You’ll figure it out.”

"Did dying hurt this much for you, Kaito?”

He slides his hand along Vector’s jaw, letting his warmth seep through to him. “It all happened gradually for me. I got used to carrying it.”

"What about you? What's your silver lining?"

Kaito has no clue. It had always been Haruto, but now he's not sure. He can't go back to his life the way he is now, with Vector's energy burning beneath his skin, but he's so used to burying everything deep down that he just feels numb to it.

"I figured out what I can give you," he says, before he can really think it through. “Something you wouldn’t have without me.”

“What’s that?”

Kaito pulls away. “The bath’s ready,” he says, switching tack. “You should get in before it goes cold. I’ll go--”

“Don’t go.” Vector hand catches his wrist. He sounds so small and desperate it hurts, like every one of his acts has fallen away and he’s finally baring his terrified core. “Please don’t go.”

“I’m right here.”

Vector’s fingers link with his, still cool like a balm to Kaito’s skin. “What can you give me?” he asks after a long moment, hesitantly curious. “Will it fix this?”

“I don’t know,” Kaito admits. “But, it’s an easy way out if it works, and a fun time if it doesn’t.”

Vector’s lips turn up, just slightly, enough to dispel the tension he’d been holding in his bones. “Oh,” he says, laughter underlining it. “God, you’re smooth.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah kaito is smooth now kiss gdi


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they have sex now

Quietly, Kaito locks the door. Regardless of whether no one ever uses this bathroom or not, he’s not about to have someone walk in on them. Rio might come looking for her stuff, or Alit could come back to check on them. It’d be annoying, a total mood killer, and what he does is still none of anyone’s business, dying or not.

When he’s back kneeling at Vector’s side, he gently wipes his tears away with his thumbs and holds his face in his hands. “This will last longer than ten seconds,” he says, and Vector breathes out a laugh.

“I’d sure hope so.”

“So long as you know,” Kaito says, pressing his lips to his bangs, damp with sweat. “And, we’re still taking a bath.”

Vector’s eyes light up. “We?”

“Yeah,” he says. “And one more thing.”

“What?”

“Tell me if it hurts, because it’s not supposed to.”

Vector's brow furrows as he whines, “But isn’t it more fun when it hurts?”

“Not when you’re dying,” Kaito says, pressing another kiss to his jaw, whispering against his skin. “This is supposed to feel comfortable. Like home.”

His skin flushes again, a blotchy pink across his cheeks. “You--”

“It’s okay,” he interrupts, “I’ll make you forget the pain, even just for a little while. I can at least give you that.”

A smile plays at the edges of Vector's lips, despite everything. The aches, the pains, the embarrassment. “Okay,” he says, curling his fingers over Kaito’s shoulders. “Fuck me, Tenjo Kaito.”

Kaito huffs out a laugh. “Get up first, we’re not doing this on the floor.”

“High maintenance,” Vector mutters, wrapping his legs around Kaito’s waist as he helps lift him up onto the counter. Then he smirks, looking down at him. “Seems I’m taller now.”

“Don’t get used to it.” Kaito runs a hand up his thigh, feeling the way his muscles tighten in anticipation. “Aren’t you excited,” he comments.

“Getting impatient,” Vector says, right as Kaito kisses him, shutting him up.

It’s slow and tentative, the first time he’s kissed anyone in a long time, and maybe the first time Vector’s kissed anyone at all, but it doesn’t take that long for Kaito to remember how things work. He slides his tongue over Vector’s lips, feeling them open up for him. His hand grips into the hair at the nape of his neck, and Vector makes a sound in the back of his throat. Running his tongue along his teeth elicits another sound that Kaito smiles into.

“You like that?” he asks, pulling away.

“Yeah.”

“Someone else didn’t.”

Vector stares at him disoriented but curious. “You’ve done that before?”

“Kissing? Yeah.”

He grins. “With who? Was it someone I know?” he asks, too excited about this information as he leans in closer. “Was it Chris?”

“It was Ryoga,” Kaito says, then tilts his head in thought. “He liked it more like this.”

He pulls Vector’s bottom lip between his teeth and sucks, kneading it between his lips and being careful not to bite hard enough to break the skin, though he’d probably like that. Pressing just a bit harder before letting go, Kaito watches as Vector’s face cycles through a few emotions.

Finally, he mutters, “Ugh, that masochistic bastard.”

“What, you liked it too?”

“No,” Vector says emphatically. “I hated it.”

Kaito plays with the ends of his hair, twisting them in his fingers. “If you say so,” he says, before licking a stripe up the column of Vector’s neck, where sweat has beaded across his skin, and kissing just under his ear. “Let’s get these clothes off you. As much as you look good in my jacket, it needs to come off.”

He hooks his thumbs into the collar of his jacket and drags it down his arms, throwing it behind him. Vector shivers, but Kaito’s hand slips under his shirt, pressing against his abdomen and heating him back up.

“That was hot,” Vector says.

“You think so?” Kaito asks against the crook of his neck, kissing and licking there before biting down. Vector inhales sharply, fingers digging into his skin as Kaito sucks on that spot. “This is going to leave a mark,” he says, lapping at the skin to sooth it before grazing his teeth over it again, working the area until Vector’s breath comes out short.

“A mark?” Vector asks, strained.

Kaito kisses the spot once more. “So everyone knows your life is mine,” he says softly, catching Vector’s lips again, hands playing with the hem of his shirt. “Are you still cold?”

He asks out of courtesy more than anything else, because Vector’s skin is in warm shades of red all over, his breath hot as he exhales. Vector’s hands fall from Kaito’s shoulders. “You can take it off,” he says. “I can handle it.”

“Okay.” Kaito pushes the fabric up his skin, watching it break out into goosebumps. “You sure?”

“Yeah.”

Soon it’s off, and Kaito tosses that too. Under all the layers, Vector is toned and tanner, darker than Kaito by a few degrees. Though his muscles aren’t nearly as defined as they were in his Barian form years ago, they’re still corded and lean.

“You still wear this?” Kaito asks, holding the red pendant hanging from his neck between his thumb and forefinger.

“It’s pretty,” Vector says, looking down at him and clutching the edge of the counter. “Like my Lapis.”

“That’s what this is called?” Kaito asks, his other hand running along the crimson gem that sits against Vector’s wrist.

He nods. “Yeah, though no one really calls them that.”

“It’s cute that you do.” Kaito brings his wrist up to his lips, letting them brush against the gem.

Vector’s cheeks flush redder. “Whatever…”

“Is it your favourite colour?”

“Maybe. I never thought about it,” he says. “Are those things important?”

“To some people,” Kaito explains, letting the pendant go and splaying his hands over his chest and running them down his abdomen, feeling the cool skin and lean muscle there under the sheen of sweat. “Some people don’t do this kind of stuff until they know each other better. What’s their favourite colour, whether they like summer or winter better, if they pour the cereal or the milk first.”

“Cereal first, I’m not an idiot,” Vector says, and Kaito laughs.

“Good, I think I’d lose the little respect I do have for you if you didn’t.”

Then Vector cocks his head to the side. “Do you care about that stuff?”

“I don’t need it to do this, if that’s what you mean,” Kaito says, pressing their lips together.

Vector pushes him back against his shoulders, breaking the kiss with an odd look on his face. “What’s your favourite colour?” he asks.

Kaito blinks at him, at how innocuous a question it is, before smiling again. “Blue, I guess.”

“Why?”

“It just is.”

His brow furrows. “But why?”

Kaito can’t help but think it’s cute that Vector cares enough to ask, to prod a more specific answer out of him. Maybe this is one of those Barian things, because they share energy through personal experiences and memories, and this might be the closest thing humans have to that. Just for him, Kaito thinks about it for a moment.

“It reminds me of Haruto and Galaxy-Eyes,” Kaito finally says. “And it’s the colour of the sky on a sunny day.”

Vector nods, letting the words sink in. “Okay,” he says, satisfied.

“Okay,” he says, kissing him chastely and sliding his hands over his waist. “Think you can stand?”

“Maybe.”

“Let’s try it.”

It’s possible he’s just not as dizzy as before, but Vector is steady when his feet touch the floor even without Kaito’s hands to hold him. Just in case, his hands still hold onto the counter behind him. “This isn’t so bad,” he says, frowning. “But I liked being taller than you.”

“Only by an inch,” Kaito says, cupping his crotch with a hand and squeezing. Vector’s bites his lip, pressing his face into Kaito’s shoulder to muffle a groan. “Hm, maybe more than an inch,” he adds, and Vector grumbles.

“You’re the worst.”

Kaito runs his other hand through his hair. “You like it, though.”

“You’re… good at this,” Vector says, attempting to straighten up. “Are you sure you’re a virgin?”

“In all the ways it counts, yeah,” Kaito says. “Take the rest off, I need to grab something.”

“Grab what?”

Kaito moves from between Vector’s legs, going to the basket that sits next to the bathtub. He’d seen it earlier, somewhere between all the glittery bath bombs and under the towels. A bottle of bath oil that thankfully isn’t dyed or scented like the rest of the stuff Rio owns. He wonders why she even has it, it seems off-brand, but he’s mostly just grateful she even has something for this.

When he finds it, he holds it up. “We need this.”

“For what?” Vector asks, kicking the rest of his clothes away. Save for his pendant and Lapis, there’s nothing left to take off.

Kaito admires the way his blush spreads over his body, not restricted to just his face, noticing he’s already half hard. “I told you it wouldn’t hurt, right?” he says, setting the bottle on the counter behind him, brushing against Vector’s waist. “This will make things easier.”

“How do you know all this stuff?” Vector asks, throwing his arms over Kaito’s shoulders.

“Mmm, good question,” Kaito murmurs, skimming his fingers over his bare hips. “Would you like me to do this with my hands?”

“There’s another option?”

“My mouth,” he answers, eyes flickering up to Vector’s, watching him turn even redder. “Though I think you offered that, didn’t you?”

“H-hands,” Vector stammers in response.

“Okay. It’s best when you’re relaxed,” he says wryly, dragging his thumb down to his entrance, gently massaging it. “You’re so tense. Does this feel good?”

Vector sucks in a breath. “Yeah,” he manages, before letting out another pretty sound. “God--”

There’s no reason he should be this sensitive, but Kaito wonders momentarily if it’s their situation. Their temperatures, or maybe that Vector’s dying in his place, but regardless it’s nice to see him turn into putty in his hands. The one Barian who always needed control, falling apart all because of him.

Kaito smiles, stopping momentarily to grab the bottle, tabbing it open to pour some oil onto his fingers, before starting again. It’s not much longer before he can slip a finger in, and Vector practically squeaks, hiding his face in his crook of his neck again.

“Cute…”

He imagines Vector would grumble, but he’s too busy remembering how to breathe, the way Kaito feels his hot air in uneven breaths across his collarbone, his dick twitching against his thigh. A second finger, a sharp inhale. Vector’s arms clutch around Kaito’s shoulders like a lifeline, his Lapis pressing into his skin, and he breathes out a laugh.

“Having fun?” he asks, curling his fingers in and feeling Vector shudder around him.

Maybe he responds, words wrapped in a gasp, but Kaito barely hears anything save for the way he pants. One more finger, he decides, because he’s not sure exactly how prepped Vector needs to be, but three seems like a good number.

Right before he presses it in, he lifts Vector's face, hand on his chin, and smiles. “How are you feeling?”

“G-good,” he says, raspy. “So good.”

“Perfect,” Kaito says, kissing him softly, feeling Vector’s lips stutter in a moan against his as the third finger slips right in and stretches him out. “You’re doing so well, Vector.”

Slowly, he pulls his fingers out, and Vector slumps against him, though whether he’s exhausted from this or from dying, it’s hard to tell.

"Come on," Kaito says, "into the tub. You get to sit for this next part."

"Oh, thank God," Vector rasps. "Standing is hard."

"I know," he says, leading him over. "But now that you're all relaxed, I can do what you wanted."

Once he's settled in the tub, hot water soothing his muscles and washing away the sweat, Kaito cracks open another water bottle and sips from it before handing it to Vector, who greedily guzzles the rest of it.

"You sure are thirsty," Kaito says, sitting on the edge of the tub.

"You make me that way," Vector says, though the slyness is hidden under a layer of exhaustion.

"Tired?"

"Kind of," he admits. "But I've been tired all day."

"Makes sense."

Maybe it's Kaito's imagination, but Vector's looking much better. It might be the way his skin no longer looks so sallow, or the way the bags under his eyes no longer look like bruises. He wonders if something is working, or if he's just seeing things.

“Hey, why am I the only one naked?” Vector asks, breaking him out of his thoughts with a pout. He folds his arms over the edge of the bathtub and settles his chin against them, brightening up. “Oh! Are you gonna strip for me?”

Kaito rolls his eyes, standing back up and taking no time at all to peel off his top and slide down his pants, unceremoniously dropping them in a pile on the floor. “This better?”

Vector’s face is pink all over again as he stutters. “Y-yeah…” he says, suddenly unable to look at him. “I mean, that was like, the worst striptease ever, but…”

“But what?”

“Your dick is huge!” Vector exclaims as Kaito grabs the bottle of bath oil and goes to stand in front of him. “Like, how the fuck do you keep that in your pants? It’s so big.”

Kaito almost laughs. “Yeah, and it’s gonna go inside you.”

His blush darkens to a pretty red that Kaito’s starting to like a lot on him. “You said this wouldn’t hurt.”

“It won’t. I promise,” Kaito tells him, gently petting his hair. “You’ll be fine.”

It’s almost funny how he continuously finds himself soothing Vector’s worries, like they hadn’t been tossing sex jokes at each other the entire day, like they actually knew what they were getting into this whole time.

“So, you did say you wanted my dick in your mouth.”

“What--? No! I’m gonna choke.” Vector shakes his head, turning away and crossing his arms, water splashing as he does. “No way. I take it back.”

Kaito bites his lip to keep from laughing. “Okay,” he says. "Then, do you want to touch me, or watch me?"

"I can touch you?"

"If you want to."

Vector tentatively peers over his shoulder, eyes dragging over his length in debate. "... Okay."

It really is hilarious, but Kaito keeps his lips pressed together as he steps into the tub, the hot water coming up his calves, and sits down on the edge. "Go ahead," he says, spreading his thighs and watching Vector position himself between them.

He starts with the flats of his palms, stroking him from base to tip. "The fuck am I doing," Vector mutters to himself after a moment, curling his fingers around the shaft and trying again. "How'd you even get me hard? You barely touched mine."

"Maybe I'm just that good."

"Lucky me."

"I'm halfway there, though," Kaito says, carding a hand through Vector’s hair, "just from all the pretty sounds you were making.”

Vector’s lips turn up at that in a self-satisfied smirk. “Maybe I should’ve been louder.”

“Why weren’t you?”

“Same reason you locked the door.”

“Fair,” Kaito says as he tabs open the bottle again. “Give me your hands.”

Vector turns them, palms up, and he pours the bath oil onto them. “Am I doing this wrong?” he asks.

“You’re fine, but…” he trails off, crossing his ankles over the small of Vector’s back, pulling him closer. “Try it like this.”

Kaito puts his hand over Vector’s, guiding it over him. He’s done this before, well aware of what his own body likes even if it’s been a while. Vector follows along easily, coating his cock in their replacement for actual lube until Kaito’s breath has deepened into long draws.

Then, after several moments, Vector stops and looks up at him oddly. “Yeah?” Kaito asks.

“You’re not making any noise at all,” he says, more annoyed than disappointed.

“Oh, you want to hear me?” Kaito smirks, lowering himself into the bath, the water rising over the edge and splashing against the tile, his arms trapping Vector against the other side of the tub. “You will, don’t worry,” he says, before taking his lips in a searing kiss.

Vector’s so pliant now, nothing like the asshole who kept trying to take back control only hours ago. Kaito smiles against his lips before pulling away.

“Come here, sit on my lap,” Kaito says, sitting back against the tub.

It takes a moment, but soon Vector crawls over and spreads himself over him, calves framing his thighs.

Under the water, Kaito drags a hand up Vector’s length, watching as his eyes roll back, shivering despite the hot water and all the steam around them. “Does that feel good?” he asks, continuing to stroke him.

“Y-yeah,” Vector mumbles, hands on Kaito’s shoulders again. “Everything you do feels good.”

Kaito smiles, his other hand coming up to caress his face. “You’re so pretty,” he says, watching Vector’s expression contort in a protest that never comes because they’re kissing again, this time slow and languid and the kind of tender that Vector hadn’t wanted but seems perfectly fine with now.

“I’m not pretty,” he grumbles when they part. “I’m hot as fuck.”

“If you say so.” Kaito reaches further down, letting his nails run along his balls and up the underside of his cock. Vector’s forehead falls against his, violet eyes dazed. “Are you ready?”

“Of course I am,” he says, 

“Sit up for me, okay?” Kaito says gently, setting his hands on his hips. “We’ll go slow.”

Vector really is pretty, the ends of his hair curling with the steam, his lips swollen and red, damp skin glistening in ways that make his collarbone and all his muscles so defined. He looks better, healthier, than he did when they started, but that’s ridiculous. Sex isn’t going to cure him.

Not in any real way.

(It’s wishful thinking.)

Just as Vector is about to sink over him, he pauses. His lips open, carefully choosing his words. “I’m glad it’s you,” he says, so quietly that Kaito has to strain to hear him.

Before Kaito can respond, Vector drops, right to the hilt in one swift motion. A moan catches in his throat, eyes squeezing shut as he feels Vector’s fingers grip into his shoulders, and he’s so tight around him. When he opens his eyes, Vector is curled over him, grinning and breathing hard.

“I finally made you moan,” he says, clearly proud of himself. “You sound pretty too.”

Kaito can’t help but laugh, just as breathy. “I said you would,” he says, rolling his hips and causing him to squeak. It only makes him laugh harder. “How do you feel?”

“Fucking amazing.”

“Good,” Kaito says, leaning back to admire him. “You look fucking amazing.”

Vector flushes pink. “That’s hot.”

“What is?”

“When you talk like me,” he explains. “Goes straight to my dick.”

“Really?” Kaito says, smirking, filing that information away. “Good to know.”

He rolls his hips again, thrusting deeper, and Vector gasps, falling against him. “God-- you’re so good at this,” he says. “Are you like, certain you’re not a virgin?”

“Not anymore.” Kaito shrugs. “So, you comfy?”

“Very.”

Kaito tries to keep a steady pace once he’s started, rocking into Vector. Little whimpers and gasps and curses fall freely from Vector’s lips into the crook of Kaito’s neck. Then he holds Vector’s cock in his hand, pumping the length and flicking his thumb over the tip, which only makes him curse louder.

It doesn’t take long for Vector to finish, already so stimulated despite all their breaks. He bites into his shoulder to muffle his scream, hot cum spurting into Kaito’s hand in the water.

Something makes Kaito hope his teeth leave marks.

He slows down, about to pull himself out, when Vector speaks. “No,” he rasps. “Finish inside me.”

“But you’re exhausted, Vector.”

“But I want you to,” he says, turning to look up at Kaito with a weak smile from where he’s slumped on his shoulder. “Keep going.”

Kaito grunts, feeling himself get closer to the edge every time Vector so much as shifts on his lap. He exhales and decides. “Okay.”

He is giving him this, after all. All or nothing, or something like that, he thinks as he grips Vector’s hips, grinding them down into him as he thrusts upward. Kaito can feel he’s almost there, so close, and when he finally releases, moaning loudly, he sags back into the bathtub.

Vector is blissed out against him and they stay like that for a moment longer.

“You like that?” Kaito asks when his breathing has evened out.

“So much.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> baby's first smut scene. that was exhausting to write.
> 
> please appreciate my efforts (and thanks to the three people who i whined to constantly about this chapter, one of whom beta'd~ ily <3)


	8. Chapter 8

“So,” Vector starts, sitting on the opposite side of the bathtub with one of his cigarettes between his fingers. “Where’d you learn to do all that?”

It’s meant to sound flippant, but the way Vector can barely look at him, busy leaning over the edge and digging around for his lighter, is a dead giveaway. Kaito shrugs, sinking lower into the hot water. “Chris almost fucked me, once. It didn’t work out.”

“What?” Vector sounds confused. “I thought you said--”

“I did, yeah,” Kaito says. “He got my top off and switched from horny to motherly in like two seconds when he saw the medical patches. Doubted I was okay to do it, and told me we should stop.”

“What’d you do?”

“Told him to jerk himself off and left.” He sighs. “I’m not interested in someone who treats me like glass.”

Vector grins as he finally finds his lighter, clicking it open and sticking the cigarette between his lips. They’re still red and swollen. “Glass?”

“Like I’m gonna break just because I’m sick,” he says.

“You survived a war--”

“Actually, I died.”

“Okay, okay,” Vector says, waving his hand, “we all kinda died, but you fought in a war with us and you were fine!”

Kaito rolls his eyes, smile playing on his lips. “Yeah, okay. Maybe you have a point,” he says. “I dunno. I guess… once upon a time, Chris knew I was dying and still threw me away. So his sudden concern now, just because he wants me back? No thanks.”

It’s nice to get it off his chest. No one else was around back then, save for Droite and Gauche who were too wrapped in their own traumas. He leans back, staring up at the chandelier and the way the steam fogs up the glass and Vector’s smoke twists through it, distorted.

“What about Nasch?” Vector asks.

“Even he does it. He keeps asking how I am, trying to get back to where we were, at least as friends.” Kaito shakes his head. “I just don’t care anymore.”

“Sounds like you need a smoke more than I do.”

“Sure.” Kaito holds out his hand. “Why not.”

Vector passes it over, now looking much too closely at him. “You smoke?”

“Used to.”

“You’ve done a lot of stuff.”

“I guess. None of it’s any good.” Kaito takes a drag and blows out smoke, watching as Vector turns beet red. “Don’t tell me you find this hot too?”

“Shut up and give it back.”

“Make me.” He inhales again, long and slow, maintaining eye contact as Vector practically implodes. Smirking, he lets the smoke seep through his lips. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”

“You’re hot and I hate it,” Vector mutters, leaning over to take the cigarette back, but Kaito holds it out of reach.

“Come here.”

“Why?”

“Right here.” Kaito taps the spot between his thighs. “I think I know something else you’d like.”

His eyes light up. “Is it a sex thing?”

“No.”

“Ugh. Lame,” Vector says, before settling in against him, back against his chest as the water settles around them. “At least you’re comfy.”

“You think so?” Kaito asks, caressing his thumb over Vector’s swollen lips before covering them, his cigarette pressing against them. The tips of Vector’s ears burn as he inhales, and when Kaito pulls his hand away he wheezes out smoke. “What about now? Is this still lame?”

“Holy fuck,” he breathes. “My goddamn heart’s gonna explode.”

“Yeah?” Kaito asks, setting his hand back over Vector’s mouth.

When he lets go, Vector tilts his head back against his shoulder. “You’re gonna kill me faster than I’m dying.”

“You like it?”

Vector shivers as Kaito’s lips graze over the hickey he’d left. “Yeah.”

“Good.”

It isn’t long before it’s burned out and their fingers turn pruney from the water. They decide to actually get up and clean themselves properly, showering under hot water and washing away the entire day. They use one of Rio’s scented lotions and find clothes under the towels in the basket. Sweats, boxers, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. Kaito considers his own clothes for a moment, wet from the puddles of water they’d spilled, but Vector throws him the sweats and t-shirt and it’s decided.

Vector sits up on the counter beside the sink eating the taiyaki Alit had brought them and swinging his legs back and forth as Kaito squeezes out his clothes in the tub and wonders if it’s even worth packing them in his bag. At least his jacket is dry and the taiyaki is tasty.

Before they leave, Kaito surveys the bathroom, the extra towels on the floor to suck up all the water they’d spilled. “Should we clean up properly?”

“Nah. You know what you should do, though?” Vector asks, leaning in close, leaving only inches between them and linking his fingers against the nape of Kaito’s neck. “You should kiss me. One more time.”

Kaito blinks at him. “You feel like me.”

“Huh?”

Just to make sure, Kaito’s fingers come up to curl against his hands, where Vector’s skin rests against his. “You don’t feel cold anymore,” he says softly. “What do I feel like?”

“The… same?”

Kaito stares at him, unimpressed. “Come on, what do I feel like?”

“You really want me to say it again?” Vector whines, lips twisting into a pout. “I don’t want to.”

“Like home?”

His cheeks flush. “Yeah. You feel nice like that.”

“You…” Kaito’s brow furrows, “feel like that too.”

The last time he felt like this was years ago, when he’d lived with Haruto on the outskirts of Heartland City, in the rural towns that edged the city with acres of meadows and farmland. At the cottage, before Vector had ever made that deal with his father, before they’d ever met or fought or fucked.

(He wonders what home feels like for Vector.)

But Kaito pushes the thought down, unable to think too much on it even with Vector only inches away from him.

Instead, he shifts gears. “Can you walk?”

“Kinda? I’m sore,” Vector says. “I think it’s your fault.”

“Okay, get on. I’ll carry you down.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> vector gets to piggyback on kaito how Cute what a fucking baby


End file.
